NCRA could be running 'before the rains start'

By Mike A'Dair/TWN Staff Writer
Posted: 08/20/2010 11:58:14 AM PDT

There are "no obstacles" to Northwestern Pacific Railroad Company running the railroad "before the rains start" this year, North Coast Railroad Authority Vice Chairman Hal Wagenet said this week.
Wagenet confirmed differences have surfaced between NCRA and the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District (SMART) over contractual agreements, but noted the parties are in negotiations on that matter.
"We are in the process of negotiating an amendment to our operating agreement," Wagenet said.
Through a complicated series of agreements, NCRA acquired authority to run the railroad from Willits north to Eureka in 1989, and from Healdsburg to Willits in 1996, while authority to manage the railroad from Healdsburg south was assigned to the Northwestern Pacific Railroad Authority (NWPRA), a joint powers authority consisting of the NCRA, the Golden Gate Bridge District and the County of Marin.
Wagenet said both the NCRA and NWPRA negotiated separate operating agreements with different rail line operators. When the NCRA assumed management authority of the whole railroad, agreements between NWPRR and its operator went to NCRA. SMART had an operational agreement with NWPRR's operator. The agency is now claiming the operational agreement with NCRA's new operator, NWPCo., is not binding.
Nevertheless, Wagenet is optimistic that trains will soon be running. "Our final EIR is due out September 1," he said. "After that we will seek public comment. Then the Federal Railroad Authority
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has to inspect things. When that is complete, there will be nothing to stop us from starting up operations."
NCRA attorney Christopher Neary is not quite as optimistic as Wagenet. "It's too soon to tell" how negotiations are going to go," he said, "since NCRA only received the SMART wish list on August 13.
"It's hard to tell if it's an opening position or an ultimatum," Neary said. "But I predict that ultimately the SMART board will be reasonable with NCRA. We've just put $40 million into their railroad, after all. We have an operating agreement with them, and we are satisfied with that agreement. But yes, our board has decided to talk to them and to see what's on their mind."
Neary said the railroad will likely be operational in 45 to 60 days.
The Northwestern Pacific Railroad operated since November 1998 when it was closed by a Federal Railroad Authority order.
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